TurkStat announced the population data for 2023. Turkey’s population was measured as 85 million 372 thousand 377 thousand people by the end of 2023. Compared to the previous year, the population increased by only 92 thousand 824 people. Turkey’s population growth rate, which was 7.1 per thousand in 2022, dropped to 1.1 per thousand, an extraordinary decline.
In 2020, the year when the COVID 19 pandemic was most effective, Turkey’s population dropped by 8.4 percentage points year-on-year, from 13.9 per thousand to 5.5 per thousand. This time, in a year of earthquakes and increased repatriation of foreigners, the decline was much steeper. Turkey’s population remained almost flat in 2023.
Earthquake region population decreased by 220 thousand people
According to TurkStat population statistics published on the first anniversary of the earthquake, there was a total population decrease of 220,450 people in the 11 provinces affected by the earthquake. Although the TurkStat data show the exact registered situation, it does not reflect the actual situation or deaths in the earthquake zone. Many people from the region moved to other provinces but did not register their population. Neither do these statistics relate population change to migration or deaths. TurkStat makes a calculation based on the address registration system of the Ministry of Interior. In these provinces, changes due to those who died and dropped out of the population records, those who moved to other provinces by changing their address, those who re-registered and came from other provinces, and those who were newly born and registered are included. The population decreased by 141 thousand 403 in Hatay, 69 thousand 855 in Malatya, 60 thousand 818 in Kahramanmaraş and 30 thousand 191 in Adıyaman.
Istanbul’s population declined
The most populous province was Istanbul, whose population decreased by 252 thousand people to 15 million 655 thousand 924. Ankara reached a population of 5 million 803 thousand 482, İzmir 4 million 479 thousand 525, Bursa 3 million 214 thousand 571, Antalya 2 million 696 thousand 249.
The proportion of married people on decline
Marriage rates are also declining in Turkey. While the proportion of married men and women was above 64 percent in 2009, it dropped to 61.4 percent for married men and 60.5 percent for married women at the end of 2023. According to TurkStat data, the proportion of never-married men increased to 32.7 percent and the proportion of never-married women to 24.7 percent compared to the previous period. While the number of people per square kilometer was 111 people in Turkey, this rate was 3 thousand 13 people in Istanbul. Istanbul was followed by Kocaeli with a population density of 582 and Izmir with 373 people.
